OLYMPIA This winters string of car prowls, burglaries and other property crimes in our area left behind a wake of frustrated victims hoping for fingerprint evidence to identify the perpetrator(s). They face a long wait.

Although some law enforcement officials believe at least one of the burglars has been put away, they say a latent print is not always a reliable clue found after a property crime and even when it is, theres no telling how long it might take to be processed by the lab.

Randall Watson is the lab manager at the Latent Prints Crime Laboratory in Olympia, which services Pacific County and other municipalities around the state that do not have their own labs or latent print examiners. Last year, the lab handled about 3,200 cases, but the annual average can be as high as 3,400.

A scientific process

In order to be processed, evidence is submitted with a Request for Laboratory Examination form, assigned a case number and barcoded for tracking through the laboratory. From there, the evidence is analyzed for identifiable latent prints. If any identifiable prints are found, they are compared to listed suspect and elimination prints.

Watson explains the labs steps in processing and identifying a latent print, Lets take a home invasion robbery, where people bust in, tie up the people and take up all the goods and leave. We would respond to process latent prints. Wed develop some impressions; we would request that the victims give us their prints, too. Since they live in the home, there would be prints in the home and then we can eliminate those prints, say 50 percent of those prints, and have, say, five prints left to search.

The suitable latent prints are run through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), which will compare the prints to a database of unknown latent prints, inked prints and livescan prints and provide a list of potential candidates for comparison. Washington State Patrol is a participating member of the Western Identification Network, a multi-state AFIS.

With each print stored in the database, there may also be names and birth dates of potential suspects, victims or witnesses relating to the crime for which the print was collected.

A hit doesnt mean a match

If there is a possible match, a forensic scientist will compare the two prints and issue a report with his or her examination results. If there isnt a match, the print is registered into the AFIS database for future searches.

But Watson notes that just because they get a hit on a latent print doesnt necessarily mean that they have identified the perpetrator.

Just because we get an AFIS hit doesnt mean theyre necessarily a bad person, says Watson. They could have sold [the homeowner] their TV or installed the windows in the home.

Successful crime fighting

AFIS that has solved many, many cases since its inception, Pacific County Sheriff Scott Johnson confirms. Everybody we bring into the jail is submitted to that database.

But, Johnson says, You often have to have a suspect and a good complete print. Today, we use an automatic fingerprint scanner here, and it tells you if you have a good print. But when youre out in the field and have to use the ink and powder, its much harder to get a good print. And a fingerprint doesnt do any good if there is no fingerprint on file to compare it to.

Long Beach Police Chief Flint Wright echoed the same sentiments.

Its pretty hard to get a print off a car prowl because of the surfaces involved, says Wright. Basically, unless we can find a really good print, we dont take any prints because its not worth it. Youll find a print in a burglary scene, and its so smudged, its not a good enough print … You need a good print and you need a suspect to compare it to. Unless I can find a really good print at a burglary scene, I just dont take it. That may sound defeatist, but its just the reality.

We do look for prints at a burglary scene, but it has to be good. Im not going to waste time on bad prints, its just not worth it. And most prints are bad, theyre smudged.

Setting priorities

Wright notes that a smudged print will be taken as evidence in the case of a homicide, as it would be the type of case that would get higher priority at the lab.

At the back of every officers mind is the labs prioritizing, Wright says. It depends on the level of a crime. A crime against a person is going to take higher priority than a crime against property and thats across the board.

Cases are prioritized, Watson confirms. One of the things is because right now our staff situation is very low and the budget from the state is very stringent its difficult to get employees. We have six scientists for the whole state, and 50 percent of our staff do crime scenes, also … Crime scene people process scene trajectories, where shots were placed, where people were standing, reconstruction of crime scene, prints on the vehicle

Because of that situation, we have to prioritize. We do person crimes first homicides, rapes, death investigations. Lastly is property crimes and car prowls. We try to juggle them in, because not only are we aware of the crime types, but were also aware of how old a case is getting.

In addition to how old it is, a case is also given priority if it is going to court and if scientists will have to testify.

[Latent prints] are a useful tool, but only so useful, and as far as getting the lab involved, it would have to be a serious crime against a person before we send it off to the lab, Wright explains. Theres a place for fingerprints, but theyre for serious felony crimes, its just the reality.

Johnson said there are larger agencies that are now using traces of DNA left in a fingerprint to identify a suspect, but the PCSO does not have the resources to be able to do that since each piece of evidence costs in the neighborhood of $400 to process.

In the meantime, Wright advises that a citizens best line of defense is to utilize an alarm system to deter criminals.